C519 Endless Pursuit
A fiery Divine Thunder from beyond the stars, speckled with scarlet spots, heralded a solar flare marked with terrifying infernos.
The wall of the Everlands seemed to malfunction, offering no resistance.
The mightiest guardian, tasked with protecting this grand world, appeared to have nodded off, neglecting his duty!
The solar rays pierced the heavens, instantly reaching the Sundering Isles and penetrating the Sunsilver Sea, as durable as metal, and the cultivator of the Skyreach Consortium.
A vast hole was gouged into the golden sea, which then began to burn.
The sea life below perished in an instant.
Even the cultivators in the Golden Sanctum and Veil Breaking realms, who were scouring the seabed for shells, pearls, and corals infused with spiritual energy, were inexplicably caught in the devastation and perished.
Many unfortunate bodies floated up from the depths toward the sea's surface.
At that moment, another bolt of Divine Thunder Firelight struck the colossal cast-iron sign.
The dense text that covered the sign's surface was abruptly snuffed out.
From within, an agonized howl echoed from the expert of the Sunlit Order.
Despite his mastery of flame spells and his Solar Spirit cultivation, even concealed within an object, he was grievously wounded in a flash.
The cast-iron sign, like a Mountain of Flames, plummeted into the deep sea.
With a mighty splash, the cast-iron sign sank, and fiery red waves surged, towering and magnificent.
"Phew!"
In contrast, the Silver Rainbow Shuttle vanished from its spot in a blink.
The sunlight aimed at the Warp Spindle dove into the golden sea, further injuring the Skyreach Consortium's cultivator.
"My heavens!"
Mo Yan, inside the Silver Rainbow Shuttle, stared at the sun in the extraterrestrial sky, clicking his tongue in disbelief, "Impossible! How could this be? Are all the sentinels guarding the outer realms asleep?"
In the Warp Spindle, the Dark Herald's usually cool voice was tinged with panic, "There's trouble beyond the stars!"
With a resounding crash, the Ethereal Tower that Tong Laoqian had meticulously crafted shattered under the onslaught of sunlight.
Countless fragments of white, green, and black jade scattered chaotically like shattered tiles.
Tong Laoqian sobbed uncontrollably.
As the Jade Tower was on the brink of shattering, the Crucible of Evil, carrying Yu Yuan, Yuan Lianyao, and Tong Laoqian, soared toward the Celestial Isle like a dark miasma of demonic clouds.
Inside the crucible, Tong Laoqian cried while channeling the Golden Jade Spell. The jade shards and copper pieces scattered around seemed drawn to him as if he were a massive magnet, pulling in all the magic items that once belonged to the Jade Tower into his sleeves.
"It's over, all of it, my Jade Tower!"
Tong Laoqian was nearly broken. The artifact he had painstakingly crafted over a century, traveling across all the great empires of Aetherius and exploring numerous ruins, was now in ruins.
He had managed to salvage only a third of the broken magic items. The prospect of restoring the Jade Tower was utterly impossible.
"Enough with the noise, it's driving me mad!"
Yuan Lianyao, also within the crucible, watched the persistent spillover of demonic light and snapped at him, "Don't you realize there's a problem with the world outside the Everlands?"
Her words struck him, and Tong Laoqian fell silent, suddenly alert.
Instinctively, his gaze turned to Yu Yuan.
Yu Yuan, with one hand steadying the rim of the crucible and the other gripping his sword sheath, alternated his gaze between the blazing sun above and the horizon behind him, his demeanor grave and weighty. "The fact that the Guardian of Devil Palace, Hei Xun, has broken free with the Blood Altar indicates a multitude of issues."
As a long-standing sentinel of the extraterrestrial realm, tasked with defending against the Star-Spawned Terror, the powerful cultivators of the Star River and Otherkin could not afford to be complacent.
Hei Xun's escape signified that a calamity had also befallen the outside world.
At this moment, influenced by the Abyssal Leviathan that had assimilated the Eye of the Burning Sun, the distant sun of the Everlands was unleashing bolts of Divine Thunder upon the Sundering Isles!
Even the mightiest from the three upper sects, the Devil Palace, and Shadow's Keep had failed to halt its onslaught!
Such anomalies suggested that a monumental shift had occurred deep within the Star River, for neither Hei Xun nor the Blood Altar could have broken free otherwise.
The sun beyond our world, the Extraterrestrial, could never lend even a fraction of its strength to the Abyssal Leviathan.
"As long as we make it to Celestial Isle, we'll be fine!"
Tong Laoqian's anxiety slowly subsided. "If the sky were to fall, there would be tall ones to hold it up. The three great upper sects of Euwrea—the Devil Palace, Shadow's Keep, and the Ruby Hand—are the pillars of this realm. They control the finest resources across the three continents. It's time they took some action!"
Yu Yuan remained silent, not allowing himself a moment of joy for his narrow escape.
He had a nagging feeling that Lin Zhuyun would take action again in the depths of the sea.
The cultivator from the Skyreach Consortium had sustained severe injuries, as had the member of the Sunlit Order. And the enigmatic Dark Herald of the Devil Palace, though she had shifted the Silver Rainbow Shuttle, was her soul truly unscathed?
Moreover, wasn't the Abyssal Leviathan torn asunder by Hei Xun and his cohort?
How then could it harness the Eye of the Burning Sun to wield the sun's power, reaching across the Infinite Galaxy to directly influence the Sundering Isles?
Could it be that this cosmic giant beast was not dead but had regained a considerable amount of its strength?
Yu Yuan's mind brimmed with such uncertainties, leaving him far from relieved—instead, his heart grew heavier.
"Celestial Isle!"
Dozens of miles away, a significantly larger island emerged among the Sundering Isles.
From within the cauldron, Yu Yuan spared only a glance but immediately recognized not just Celestial Isle, but also Healing Island, Forge Isle, and further away, the elongated shape of Sword Island.
"Lin Zhuyun has not been gravely wounded; she still possesses combat strength," Yuan Lianyao inhaled deeply, her alertness unwavering. "We mustn't become complacent. Just because Celestial Isle is near does not mean we are out of danger."
Tong Laoqian kept his eyes fixed on the heavens, remarking, "The sun has ceased its exertion!"
His fear was that another bolt of Divine Thunder might descend from the sun, striking the Crucible of Evil and obliterating them all in an instant.
"The Jade Tower is no more. Had Yu Yuan not employed the Crucible of Evil to whisk the three of them away just in time, he too would have perished."
The cultivators from the Skyreach Consortium, Sunlit Order, and Devil Palace, all at the Solar Spirit level, could endure the Divine Thunder of the sun's fire and emerge with only severe injuries.
He, however, wouldn't survive a direct hit from the Divine Thunder; it would be certain death.
"She's here!"
A wisp of a remnant soul suddenly echoed in Yu Yuan's Heart Lake.
The remnant soul originated from the cauldron spirit!
At that moment, from the far-off Celestial Isle, Forge Isle, and Healing Island, earth-shattering waves of energy burst forth, prompting some cultivators to emerge.
A chilling, ghostly figure darted out from the fiery sea.
It was Lin Zhuyun!
Tong Laoqian spun around, his lips paling in fright. "What kind of fiend is she?"
"Is it really her?" Yuan Lianyao also felt a bitter taste in her mouth, whispering to herself, "How did that girl become so formidable? What did the Abyssal Leviathan promise her? What did it give her?"
Lin Zhuyun had, in an incredibly short time, grown so powerful from the Veil Breaking Stage that she could now slay those at the Spirit Walk Stage and even confront a Solar Spirit!
This defied all logic!
Yuan Lianyao began to doubt, suspecting Yu Yuan's judgment, wondering if he was actually a mighty Sky Fiend that had lain dormant in the Everlands for eons.
"It must be her. She's likely exhausted every option to break out of the Everlands as quickly as possible," Yu Yuan said darkly. "Here, she'll be hunted relentlessly by the upper sects, the Devil Palace, and Shadow's Keep. Only by escaping, even briefly, does she stand a chance at life."
"I even suspect that she won't survive the repercussions of her sudden increase in power once she's outside."
As Yu Yuan spoke, he covertly signaled to the artifact soul, instructing it to head for the Celestial Isle without concern for him. He aimed the sword sheath he'd been clutching at Lin Zhuyun behind him and once more reached out with his mind, calling upon the sword spirit that had been silent within his arm bone for ages.
"Are you still there? If you can move, lend me your strength. Otherwise, I'm as good as dead..."
Several miles away, Lin Zhuyun gripped the cold moon in her left hand and hurled it toward the Crucible of Evil.
A frigid bolt of Divine Thunder cleaved through the clouds, splitting the heavens and earth above the sea!
The path of the frigid bolt instantly froze everything in its wake, including the Crucible of Evil.
Before the bolt even reached them, Yu Yuan and his two companions inside the Crucible felt their scalps tingle, their pores quivering in terror.
An enigmatic cold moon loomed over the Mindscape of Yu Yuan, Yuan Lianyao, and Tong Laoqian, wielding an inscrutable might.
The cauldron hung motionless in the void.
In that moment, Yu Yuan and the others were petrified, transformed into three statues of ice.
Their gazes, thoughts, and breaths ceased to stir.
"Whoosh!"
Emerald flames burst forth from Lin Zhuyun, eagerly surging toward the Crucible of Evil, threatening to engulf both the cauldron and its occupants.
